Knights' Bet
by AlicjaFromWonderland
Summary: Finally, Merlin decides to tell Arthur about his magic. But why does he end up being the one more shocked? And why is Gwaine so pleased? Reveal!fic, one-shot.


**Beta by 1DarkPhoenix1.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Merlin.**

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Merlin opened the doors of the great hall with shaking hands. Today was the great day.

Arthur had become king one year ago today. Merlin had originally been afraid that after the death of his father Arthur would start to hunt magic users just like his father had, especially in light of the circumstances of Uther's death.

It hadn't happened though. Yes, Arthur had fumed for a while, but when the fury decreased he seemed to realize that not all magic was evil. Since then, he had never punished anyone for being a sorcerer, and he didn't hunt the Druids in the woods.

Today was the anniversary of Arthur's coronation. Today was the day when finally, Merlin was going to tell the king about his magic. Today was the day he would reveal it all.

And Merlin had never been more frightened.

He entered the room. Arthur had attended a Council meeting, but it had ended about a half an hour ago. Now he was playing dice with Gwaine, Elyan and Percival while Leon stood in a corner and watched them with a condemning look on his face.

When they heard the servant entering the room, they all stopped to greet him. Elyan, Percy and Leon nodded to him, Arthur just rolled his eyes and Gwaine smiled widely. Merlin tried to reply with a smile, but he failed. The warlock was just too nervous. He gulped, and before the courage left him said:

"Arthur, can I talk with you for a moment?" The King looked at him questioningly. "I mean, alone?"

"Merlin, can't you see that I'm busy? I'm sure whatever it is, you can easily say it now."

Merlin gulped again, his legs shaking more and more with every second. He could barely stand, but he didn't want to sit down. He might need to escape, and he wanted to have some sort of advantage over the royal. He tried to say that he really had to talk to his friend without any witnesses, but those weren't the words that left his mouth.

"I have magic."

Everyone froze. The knights looked at him with disbelief, Arthur with shock.

And then they started to laugh. Anger was starting to rise in the warlock along with confusion. Did they think he was too stupid to be a sorcerer? That hurt his pride.

"I really am! I can prove it to you!" he shouted. He whispered a few words under his breath, and all candles on the table lighted with small fires. That made them shut up. Silence fell.

When Merlin had calmed down a bit, he looked around with worry. As soon as he came to his right senses, he cursed himself in his mind for the carelessness he had shown. But to his surprise his friends didn't look angry, scared, disguised, or even betrayed.

Something was off. He just confessed to having magic, for god's sake!

"We already know, mate." Gwaine was smiling again. Merlin's eyes widened. "Come on, did you really think we wouldn't notice? It was obvious even to our princess there, and you have to admit that he is slow with this kind of thing."

"Uhmm… What?" That was all he was able to say.

Arthur continued instead of the long-haired knight, "I saw it first when Elyan was possessed. You blew up the doors, _Mer_lin, that wasn't very subtle. I was sure after Morgana had taken over Camelot and you gave me Excalibur. When I was pulling the blade out, I looked at you for a brief moment and saw your eyes glowing gold. You didn't notice though. After that I went to the knights, and questioned them. Percival and Elyan had both felt something was wrong, Leon didn't have a clue and Gwaine had already known."

"It was pretty simple. On the princess's quest that weird man on the bridge called us Courage, Strength and Magic. If Arthur was Courage, I was Strength, you had to be Magic." Gwaine smiled slyly at Merlin's gasp. "Or maybe you just babbled about it once when we were in the tavern, and you had had too much to drink."

"We knew that you weren't evil, and we could see how much you had helped us. We decided it would be best to wait, and let you confess when you were ready," Leon picked up.

"So you all knew and still didn't tell me?! You clotpoles! Do you know how much courage I needed to say this?! How I lived in fear for my life?!" Merlin cried.

"You really can't talk to me like that, I'm your king, remember?" Arthur answered calmly, "Of course we could have gone and told you that we knew, but what would be the point? We wanted you to trust us."

"By the way, princess, do you know what day is today? It is the anniversary of your coronation. And if I remember correctly the event was held in the evening? It's only slightly past noon now. Do you know what that means?" Merlin didn't like the way Gwaine was smirking. Arthur groaned, then he took out ten gold coins from his pocket, and gave them to the knight. Percival and Elyan did the same. Gwaine looked pleased, but then he laid his eyes on Leon pointedly.

"What?" the latter wanted to know.

"We had a bet. I won. So could you give me my money?" Leon looked surprised.

"I didn't take part in that bet!"

"Yes, you did," corrected Arthur.

"But…!" The king interrupted him.

"You said he would tell me sooner than this, but he didn't. So give Gwaine the money." Defeated, Leon gave up his share. Merlin looked on at the whole situation, even more confused. Finally, he found his voice.

"What bet?" he asked, unsure whether he wanted to hear the answer. Gwaine grinned again.

"You see, a couple of days after we had found out about your magic we wondered when you would tell us about it. After a small argument, we decided that we would make a bet. As you already heard, Leon said that you would do so before now. I gave you one year after the coronation, and Arthur said it would take you longer. Percival believed you wouldn't tell us by yourself, but you would eventually reveal yourself to save us from some kind of magical attack. And Elyan…Elyan betted that Arthur wouldn't last long enough, and he would tell you that he knew before you managed to confess."

Merlin was speechless. He felt anger rising in him again. Soon, he was livid.

"Oh, did you? That was a smart thing for you to do." The warlock's expression turned dark.

"Merlin, are you ok? You don't look good." Arthur could tell something was wrong. He stood up, his eyes never leaving the servant.

"I'm perfectly fine, sire." Merlin's evil grin widened while he continued, "Though if I were you, I would be more concerned about you and your knights, m'lord."

"What do you mean? You surely don't…" asked Leon, but he paused when he understood what the servant meant. Now all the knights were standing.

"You surely had a great fun. But what about me?" Sparks lit Merlin's eyes. "I should have some fun too."

Silence. And then…

"Now, I'll make you pay."

The knights started to run towards the doors, but it was already too late.

The warlock caught them with his magic.

"Hmm, what do I do with you?" he asked himself "Ah, how about a new look?"

Everyone in the castle could hear their screams.

The ban on magic was lifted the very next day. Merlin was promoted to a Court Sorcerer a few days later.

It was the main topic of everyone's conversations. However, the gossip about the Once and Future King and his brave Knights of the Round Table, all in dresses and full make-up running through the whole Camelot with a servant after them, circled among the staff long after the anniversary of Arthur's coronation.


End file.
